The Upper Hand is on the Other Foot Now!

As it turns out I was looking at how CCP was wrong about wardecs in entirely the wrong fashion.  I focused on it from the standpoint of someone who wanted to throw out wardecs and maybe grief some people.  I didn’t see the absolute bonanza of opportunity beating up on an entirely different class of people.

Idiot nullseccers.  Any major nullsec alliance that puts in a wardec is going to probably regret it quickly.  There will be a dozen predator corps and alliance ready to pounce on them and terrorize any ships in highsec.  Heck look at Goons and Test in Poetic’s post.  It’s easy to be a badass in deep null when you have a few dozen/hundred of your closest friends.  The guy in a freighter hauling stuff to/from jita?  Probably gonna need a heads up.  Those mission runners in Motsu and Penirgman ain’t so safe either.  Now to some extent this might be intended by the alliance heads.  Chase out the carebears that never contribute.  Fine.  Love it.  However CCP has swung the pendulum over to the defender by providing them easy access to plenty of wardec loving folks to grief the griefers.  This gives any major alliance that doesn’t have it’s strength in highsec a VERY different choice than they had a few weeks ago.  First they can  go ahead with the wardec as normal, realizing that they expose themselves to every swinging dick(head) in empire who wants a piece of them.  Second they can just wave off and ignore whatever the problem is, and third they can find someone else (or create an alt corp/alliance) to handle the issue.

Not exactly a huge adaptation, but it points to the major flaw in the new wardec system.  Throwing out a wardec is now a HUGE liability.  If you are on the hook as the aggressor you are exposed to anyone who wants to join the fun and pound you senseless.  The question is:  Who wants to be that guy?  Who wants to be the other guy scoring easy kills?  I know everyone talks about “good fights” but let’s face it, it’s fun to post 50 killmails with no losses.  Lots more fun than to post the 50 lossmails.

The marketplace is a bit of a joke, as Poetic already pointed out.  If you want help there’s plenty of people willing to throw in for free.  The only reason you’d even think to offer money would be if you had assets requiring defense, in which case you might have to actually take some steps.

Offensive wars bring with them all the liabilities with limited opportunities, thanks to no way to force a fight.  Defensive wars bring far greater opportunities with fewer chances for nasty surprises.  I don’t really have a problem with this.  Any kind of PvP should require exposing yourself to risk.  What I do wonder is why anyone would throw out a wardec, especially “professional” highsec pvpers who can simply wait for a juicy wartarget to jump in against.

I’m using it every time I can

CSM 7 Support Part 3: Looking Up

So I’m recommending 3 today.  1 of whom I will vote for, 2 of whom I recommend everyone here to look at and consider assuming you don’t follow my voting.

T’amber:  This is a totally different sort of platform.  CCP has a vested interest in increasing the opportunities for micro-transactions.  The CSM needs reps who have a focus on this to act as a sounding board that isn’t overtly hostile to the idea, or at best supremely indifferent.  This hearkens back to my concept of having a CSM with different specialties in each seat.  Ships, Clients, Social, Graphics.  No PvP.  No PvE.  No Mining.  No Faction Warfare.

T’amber has a history, and this is a warning flag to me.  Resigning is a supremely foolish move, as many people have pointed out, but people can grow and understand their mistakes.  CCP has demonstrated that they will adjust their stance with respect to the player base and has started listening to the CSM.  I bet there was more than one CCP dev who moaned “I wish we’d listened to T’amber.”  Supported

Alekseyev Karrde:  Alekseyev is definitely one of the top 7 on the slate, he also has one of the hardest roads to follow.  He has forgotten more about wardecs than most griefers will ever know.  He leads his corp, unlike folks like Kelduum who manage and leave the leading to others he steps up front and dares others to follow him and that resonates strongly with me.  He has the respect of some famous people in EvE, including Mynxee and even Kelduum. Allow me to quote from the noir. page:

Kelduum was my initial contact but I fast learned he was not the person to talk to as far as getting an IVY fleet running

Right there folks.  One of them does it, the other doesn’t.  If you want a candidate who really has a vested interest in small-gang PvP pick the guy that does it. Supported

Hans Jagerblitzen:  I will now eat crow.  I was wrong to oppose him.  I have had to create a new category to account for this.  His comments on my blog opposing him encouraged a lot of discussion and he engaged reasonably and diplomatically which is exactly what a CSM member needs to be able to do.  The debate against Kelduum weighs heavily in his favor and for two reasons.  #1 He knows more about pvp than Kelduum by a LONG shot, and #2 he more than holds his own against Kelduum who has a much longer resume in-game and a reputation as some sort of a leader and diplomat.  Hans also has a broad platform with support for lowsec PvE and even mining.  I really like his concept of mining progression and feel he could be involved in a lot of discussion.  Supported

So which do I vote for?  Well it’s going to come down to T’amber vs. a PvP candidate, so let’s look at Aleks vs. Hans.

Aleks has very acute focus.  He knows a lot about wardecs and would be an incredible asset to CCP when they look into the mechanics for this summer’s expansion.  Hans on the other hand has experience with lowsec, faction war, and interesting ideas to go beyond the immediate expansion and lay the groundwork for the future.  Structured war appeals to me less than unstructured and lowsec is the place to go for the more free-wheeling fights.  Hans wins.

Now I have to choose.  Do I back two PvP candidates or do I back someone for the front-end of EvE and for the back-end.  Much as I’d like to tell you my vote would go to Hans I have to say that today I’d vote for T’amber and Seleene with my two accounts.  Obviously this is subject to change, but I feel that CCP needs an advisor that will help them to find a micro-transaction strategy that makes sense to players and T’amber is literally the only candidate to even mention that in his platform.  The more I’ve thought about it the more I feel T’amber, for all his warts, must be there to help CCP salvage something of the effort they put into Incarna.  I will be watching very closely to what Seleene, Aleks and Hans say, as the votes have obviously not been cast, and I wish I had the accounts to vote for each of them.  I encourage people who do to give them your support, as I feel they would all do sterling service for the playerbase and help to guide the devs towards what mots players feel would be a more rewarding PvP experience.

I'm using it every time I can